Celebrating the Centennial: Events planned for April 15-17

Darrell Hofheinz @PBDN_hofheinz

Friday

Apr 8, 2011 at 12:01 AMApr 8, 2011 at 3:44 PM

Palm Beach will celebrate its Centennial with three events this weekend – and plenty of birthday cake, too.

The cake, donated by Publix, will be served to the public at Sunday’s free All-Town Celebration on the front lawn of the Henry M. Flagler Museum, marking the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the town on April 17, 1911.

"Sunday is the big show of the weekend, our official commemoration," said Palm Beach attorney Bill Bone, chairman of the Palm Beach Centennial Commission. "We hope it will be an event that the children of today will remember 80 years from now."

Bone heads the 28-member volunteer group, first spearheaded in 2009 by Town of Palm Beach Recreation Department Director Jay Boodheshwar to coordinate the celebration, which includes two other events this weekend: Friday’s $100-a-ticket cocktail party at The Mar-a-Lago Club and Saturday’s by-invitation Centennial Ambassadors Ball at The Breakers.

Sunday’s party will start with a 6 p.m. parade to the museum along Cocoanut Row from the Palm Beach Recreation Center, 340 Seaview Ave. Cocoanut Row will be blocked off to car traffic during the parade, and the portion of the roadway in front of Whitehall will be closed for the duration of the celebration, 6-9 p.m.

Beginning at about 7:15 p.m., a one-hour program will take place behind the main gates of the museum, where there will be speeches by VIPs, a film about the town’s history and a high-tech light-and-sound show culminating in a fireworks display, Bone said.

Because there will be limited public parking in the museum area, Bone said, organizers are considering a plan to have free trolleys run to and from the museum and Phipps Ocean Park on South Ocean Boulevard. The plan, still to be finalized, would also send trolleys to make stops on North Lake Way to serve residents of the North End.

Organizers have also been working on plans with area businesses to allow parking in their lots, but nothing was final as of press time. Valet parking will only be available for designated VIPs and major donors to the Centennial celebrations, who also will have special seating inside the museum gates, Bone said.

Private and corporate donations, event-participation fees and ticket sales are underwriting the cost of the Centennial activities. With the Centennial group’s approval, the Town Council decided that tax dollars would not be used to fund Centennial activities, although officials did authorize the recreation department and Boodheshwar to take an active role in helping organize the celebration.

Bone said he did not have a tally yet for the cost of the weekend’s celebrations. He added the museum, The Mar-a-Lago Club and The Breakers are offering their venues at cost.

A parade and more

Sunday’s parade won’t have any motorized floats, but it will include walkers representing civic groups and businesses, Bone said.

The parade is being organized by the Palm Beach Day Academy, with support from students at St. Ann Catholic School, Palm Beach Public School and Rosarian Academy.

A $50 donation, with proceeds benefiting Palm Beach Day Academy, is required for all organizations taking part in the parade, Bone said, although he added that spectators can join the parade as it passes, if they desire to do so.

The parade will also feature public-safety vehicles and antique cars from the collections of Palm Beachers Jeff Fisher and Lee Munder.

Light refreshments will be available for sale at the Whitehall event.

As of press time, some of the plans for Sunday’s event were still being finalized. But Bone said plans were in the works for a professionally produced short film to be shown on large screens outside the museum.

Christian Tureaud, who grew up in Palm Beach and owns Highroad Entertainment, a Los Angeles production company, is spearheading the film with his business partner, David Salzberg, and Hollywood director William Dear.

"It will be high-end, Hollywood storytelling about the history of Palm Beach," Tureaud says. "It’s a goodwill piece."

Because of a tight timeframe to produce the film, Tureaud relied on the same production team that worked on his company’s most recent feature film, The Perfect Game.

Adds Bone: "We want the film to be inspiring, to champion the values that our forebears had. They created a life that was beautiful, elegant, congenial and based on hospitality. Really, it’s about community."